“Sónya, wait a bit—we’ll pack everything into these,” said Natásha.
“You can’t, Miss, we have tried to,” said the butler’s assistant.
“No, wait a minute, please.”
And Natásha began rapidly taking out of the case dishes and plates wrapped in paper.
“The dishes must go in here among the carpets,” said she.
“Why, it’s a mercy if we can get the carpets alone into three cases,” said the butler’s assistant.
“Oh, wait, please!” And Natásha began rapidly and deftly sorting out the things. “These aren’t needed,” said she, putting aside some plates of Kiev ware. “These—yes, these must go among the carpets,” she said, referring to the Saxony china dishes.
“Don’t, Natásha! Leave it alone! We’ll get it all packed,” urged Sónya reproachfully.
“What a young lady she is!” remarked the majordomo.
But Natásha would not give in. She turned everything out and began quickly repacking, deciding that the inferior Russian carpets and unnecessary crockery should not be taken at all. When everything had been taken out of the cases, they recommenced packing, and it turned out that when the cheaper things not worth taking had nearly all been rejected, the valuable ones really did all go into the two cases. Only the lid of the case containing the carpets would not shut down. A few more things might have been taken out, but Natásha insisted on having her own way. She packed, repacked, pressed, made the butler’s assistant and Pétya—whom she had drawn into the business of packing—press on the lid, and made desperate efforts herself.